SINGAPORE, Feb 26 –Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam and Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng have reportedly filed defamation lawsuits against Bloomberg and its journalist Low De Wei over an article on their property transactions.
The Straits Times reported today the case against the business news publication will be heard in its Supreme Court on March 3.
The lawsuit was against a Bloomberg article published on December 12, titled “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy”, which had examined transactions from January to early December 2024.
The article, written by Low, included references to property transactions involving Tan and Shanmugam and was deemed defamatory by the ministers in Facebook posts on December 16.
It had cited data compiled by Bloomberg News and List Sotheby’s International Realty.
On December 23, the Singapore’s Ministry of Law had issued correction directions against Bloomberg under its Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) 2019, claiming that the article misrepresented the transparency of property transactions in Singapore.
Bloomberg published a correction notice but stated it did so under threat of sanctions and maintained its stance that the reporting was accurate.
Other media outlets, including The Edge Singapore, The Independent Singapore, and The Online Citizen, were also issued correction orders for reproducing parts of the Bloomberg article.
